Condenser



CONDENSER Filed Aug. 14. 1944 g J5 k Brmm Mm Patented May 31, 1949 vcoNmiNsrslt Bernard C. Johnson, Mundelein. lll., asslgnor to Houdaille-Hershey Corporation, a corporation of Michigan mma, msn..

Appucatmnaugust 14. 1944, serial No. 549,431

Claims.

This invention relates to heat exchangers made of sheet material and having turned-out fins to increase the radiating areas thereof.

Specifically, the invention relates to sheet metal condensers which are adapted to be mounted on the back of a refrigerator box to cooperate therewith in forming a stack for the passage of air therethrough.

The invention will hereinafter be specically described as embodied in a sheet metal condenser unit for mechanical refrigerators, but it should be understood that the principles of this inven tion are broadly applicableto heat exchangers composed of sheet material, and the invention includes, within its scope. all uses of the sheet units.

In accordance with this invention, two metal sheets are secured together to denne therebetween circulating ducts for fluids such as refrigerant. One of the sheets has anges turned out therefrom adjacent the ducts to increase the heat dissipating area of the assembly. One of the sheets is shaped to provide side walls and mounting flanges; so that the resulting unit is readily attachablel to the back wall of a refrigerator box to cooperate therewith to define a stack.

'I'he turned-out flanges provide fins which materially increase the heat-dissipating area of the unit of this invention without increasing the.

amount of sheet metal used to form the unit. Because of the increased heat dissipating area, the units of this invention vcan be economically made from a minimum amount of material.

Condenser units of 'this invention give better control of refrigerant in mechanical refrigerator 7 units. since they can be made smaller because of their emcient heat transfer capacity and need not maintain therein the larger amounts of refriger-v ant'heretofore retained by condenser units. The smaller units vofthis invention condense the refrigerant at a fast rate and refrigerators using these units need not have as much refrigerant as was heretofore considered necessary.

It is, then, an object of the present invention to provide heat exchangers of sheet material having increased heat dissipating or absorbing areas without requiring added amounts of sheet material.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a sheet metal heat exchanger with turnedout iianges cut from a sheet of metal forming the body of the heat exchanger and serving as rlxllating fins to increase the eiiiciency of the 2 A specific object of the invention is to provide a stack type sheet metal condenser with heat dissipating uns without adding metal to the condenser.

5 A still further object of the invention is to provide a stack type sheet metal condenser for refrigerators composed of a body sheet and an embossed sheet wherein the embossed sheet has turned out flanges adjacent the embossments thereof forming heat dissipating fins which materially increase the efficiency of the unit.

Another object of the invention is to add heat radiating surfaces to sheet metal heat exchangers without adding metal or other material to the exchangers.

A still further object of the invention is to increase the efliciency of heat exchangers about 40 to 50% without adding additional material to the exchangers.

Other and further objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from. the following detailed description of the annexed sheet of drawings which, by way of preferred example only. illustrates one embodiment of the 25 invention.

On the drawings:

Figure 1 is aside elevational view of a refrigerator box equipped with a stack type condenser accordingv to this invention.

.Figure 2 is an inside broken plan view of the stack type condenser shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line III-III of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the inner sheet of the condenser. illustrating the manner in which it is sliced to provide the turned` out ns. i

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a portion of the condenser illustrating the turned out anges on the inner sheet forming heat-dissipating fins adjacent the ducts embossed on the inner sheet.

As shown on the drawings: i

In Figure 1 the reference numeral lli desig nates generally a. stack type sheet metal condenser mounted on the back wall of a refrigerator box il by means of rivets i2`or other fastening means. l

As best-shown in ,Figures 2 and 3, the con- 50 denser I0 is composed of an outer sheet of metal I3 and an inner sheet of metal Il. The outer sheet of metal I3 provides the body for the condenser, and has side walls Ila, Ila extending at right anglesto the main portion of the sheet 55 along the lsides of the sheet.A These side walls 'have outturned fianes 3 v v IIb on the ends thereof. 'I'he flanges are apertured as at I3c at spaced intervals along the length thereof to receive the rivets I2.

'I'he sheet Il is of less width than the sheet I3 and fits freely between the side walls I3a, IIa thereof. This inner sheet Il has an embossment I5 along one marginal side portin thereof equipped with an inlet port II at'its lower end and having a horizontal top leg Ila with two branches lib depending therefrom. l v

The sheet I3 is embossed along its length ,to provide a plurality of banks of ducts i1. Three such banks are shown in Figure 2, but any number of banks can be used, depending upon the length of th'e unit.

Each bank Il has a plurality of vertical embossments I'Ia connected at their top ends by horizontal embossments Ilb and connected at their bottom ends by horizontal embossments I'Ic. The branches lib on the leg Ila of the embossment I5 merge into the top horizontal embossment I'Ib of the top bank I1.

A plurality of vertical embossments I3 connect the bottom embossments I'Ic of the top bank I1 with the top embossment Ilb of the next lower bank Il. A similar set of embossments I8 conembossment I'Ib through the vertical ducts provided in the vertical embossments I'Ia. The refrigerant flows downwardly through the banks I 1 ments I8 to the duct in the embossment I9. Condensed refrigerant is removed from the condenser I0 through the outlet port 2l.

The inner sheet u. as best shawn in Figure '4,-

is cut or sliced betwen the embossments I 1a along top and bottom horizontal lines such as the illustrated top line 2|, and also along a verticaldine 22 intermediate the ends of the horizontal lines The horizontal lines 2l are spaced slightly 2i. from the embossments I'lb and I 1c of each bank I1 as. shown in Figure vi. The vertical line 22 is midway between eachv vertical embossment IIa as shown in Figure 4. 'Y

The lines of cuts 2| -and 22 outline localized body portions of the 'sheet I 4 and, as bestshown in Figure 5, these localized body portions are turned at right angles to the sheet` Il to form heat dissipating fins 23. Thus a -pair of -heatdissipating ilns 23, 23 is formed between each embossment I'Ia. The outer sheet I3 is uncut and covers the space between the turned-out ns 23. The fins 23 project inwardly from the sheet I4 to lie in the air path A of the stack provided by the unit I0 as best shown in Figure-3.

The ns 23 increase the heat dissipating area of the entire condenser Il by about 40%, and actually increase the heat dlssipating area in the region of the banks I'I by more than 50%. Thus,

as illustrated in Figure 5, each turned out nn 23 has two broad faces 23a and 23h extending away from the uncovered face i3d of the outer sheet I3. The two broad faces 23a and 23h of each iln 23 areadded heat dissipating areas obtained and through the ducts in the connecting emboss- 4 without sacrifice of any previous heat dissipating face, since the fins uncover a'face i3d which would be covered if the fins were not turned inwardly. This increased heat dissipating area has been obtained without addition of metal.

The units of this invention are readily made from flat sheets of metal. The sheet I4 is cut along the lines 2i and 22, is embossed to provide the above-described embossments, and is stamped to turn out the fins 23 from the body'portions dened by the cuts 2| and 22. The sheet I3 is brazed, welded, or otherwise integrally bonded to the sheet I4 along the contacting areas of the sheets. The brazed-together sheets can then be bent on a mandrel to provide the side walls l3a and flanges I 3b on the sheet I3.

'I'he units I0 of this invention are inexpensive and, because of their increased efficiency, can be made with less metal or other sheet material than was heretofore required.

It will, of course, be understood that various details of construction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention and it is, therefore. not the purpose to limit the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope of the appended claims.

- body portions between eachduct with each body of the pair having an edge formed by a common line of cut, each localized body portion of they pairs being bent away from each other and from the other sheet to expose both faces of both sheets and to formilns on the heat exchanger, and the other of said sheets being uncut and shaped to provide a space and a support for' the heat exchanger.

2. A condenser adapted for cooperating with a refrigerator box to form a stack which comprises 'a sheet of metal shaped to form a back and side walls of a stackfa second sheet of metal integrally bonded to said first mentioned sheet along the inner face of the back wall portion thereof,

said second sheet being embossed to cooperate with the ilrstmentioned sheet for forming between the sheets a plurality of ducts. and said second sheet having `sets of cuts adjacent said ducts, each of said sets defining a pair of local bodies on the second `sheet with the bodies of each pair having an edge deilned by the same cut, said bodies being bent at substantially rightangles to the second sheet to position said edges away from each other thereby .exposing both faces of both sheets and providing ilns extending into the stack.

3. A stack-type condenser unit for refrigerator boxes and the like which comprises a sheet metal body having a back wall and side walls arranged to coact with the wall of a refrigerator box to circulating ducts, and said second sheet having between each vertical duct a vertical cut with horizontal cuts at the ends thereof, said vertical and horizontal cuts each-forming a pair of local body portions each with an edge defined by the composed of spaced parallel vertical sections and bossed to have a plurality of spaced superimposed banks of refrigerant-circulating ducts with each bank having a plurality of parallel ducts joined at their ends'by header ducts, the inner sheet being sliced between. each parallel duct of the banks of ducts and having localized body, portions formed by the slices, said body portions being bent relative to the inner sheet to form ns for increasing the heat-dissipating area of the'unit, and said outer sheet' forming the body of the unit and being shaped to coact withV a refrigerator box or the like for deining a stack.

5. A stack type sheet metal condenser unit Vfor f mechanical refrigerators comprising an outer sheet of metal bent to form a back wall, side walls,

. and outturned mounting anges on the ends of th'e side walls, an inner sheet integrally bonded to the inner face of said back wall of the outer sheet, said inner sheet having an inlet embossmentl extending along one marginal side edge portion of the inner sheet with a top leg portion extending across the upper end ofthe inner sheet vtogether with a plurality of banks of embossments transverse top and bottom connecting sections, the top bank having the top vtransverse section communicating with the top leg of the inlet embossment, and the bottom and top legs of the banks being'connected through a plurality of vertical embossments, said inner sheet having a vertical cut between each vertical embossment of each bank and horizontal cuts between the top and bottomtransverse sections of each bank of embossments, saidcuts defining localized body portions, said localized body portions being bent at an angle to the inner sheet to expose the inner face of the back wall and to form ns for the unit, and said bottom transverse section of the bottom `bank having a dependent outlet embossment in communication therewith.

BERNARD C. JOHNSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are ol'` record ln the le of this patent:v

UNITED STATES PATENTS 25 Number Namel Date 1,973,127 Taylor Sept. 11, 1934 2,071,182 Steenstrup Feb. 16, 1937 2,090,417 Hunl Aug. 17, 193'1 FOREIGN PATENTS 3 Number y Country Date '194,515 nance vFeb. 19, 1936 845,144

` France Aug.l11, 1939 

